Oral historian Marcie Cohen Ferris interviewed Beatrice L. Levi on February 4, 2002 in Baltimore, Maryland as part of the Jewish Womenâs Archive "Weaving Women's Words" project. Activist, innovator and visionary, Beatrice L. Levi has created educational opportunities for Baltimoreans of all ages. Born in Baltimore City, Maryland in 1919, Beatty was raised by her grandmother and mother after the death of her father when she was just five years old. Exposed to the cultural world of New York City by her uncles, Beatty had hoped to work in the New York publishing world before a bout with typhoid fever forced her to change her plans. Shortly after graduating from Goucher College, Beatty married Joseph Levi in 1941. In addition to her husband and daughters, Margaret and Alice, Beatty has dedicated herself to three important loves: the League of Women Voters, Tips on Trips and the Art Seminar Group. As a full-time volunteer for the League, Beatty worked to get out the vote of black Americans and on other pressing social issues. From 1971 to 1995, Beatty co-founded and operated Tips on Trips, an international travel consultation program providing interesting and innovative travel experiences for youth. As a co-founder of the Art Seminar Group, Beatty has brought arts education to hundreds of Jewish and non-Jewish Baltimoreans. In 2002, she received an honorary doctorate in Humanities from the Maryland Institute College of Art in recognition of her accomplishments. Beatrice L. Levi photo: Credit Joan Roth. Joan Roth's website

In the early 2000s, the Jewish Women's Archive conducted oral history interviews with 30 Jewish women living in Baltimore and another 30 in Seattle. Born in the early decades of the 20th century, these women lived through decades of political, social, and economic upheaval, as well as dramatic changes in expectations and opportunities for women. Doctors and lawyers, teachers and saleswomen, judges and social workers, homemakers and community volunteers, the narrators represent a wide range of backgrounds, affiliations, and experiences of American Jewish women. To find out more and to see the online exhibits based on this project, visit Jewish Women's Archive/baltimore and Jewish Women's Archive/seattle

The complete audio recordings and transcripts of the interviews are available on the Internet Archive.

This project was made possible in part by major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Brenda Brown Lipitz Rever Foundation, and the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Foundation, Inc. In Baltimore, the project was a collaboration with the Jewish Museum of Maryland; in Seattle, with the Museum of History and Industry.

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